INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman
Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
While Joel and Ethan Coen have certainly made films every bit as accomplished as their latest, theyve never told a story so fuelled by raw, unfettered emotion. Dispensing with the distance they often keep from their protagonists, they craft a drama as intimate and aching as the captivating folk songs that serve as its soundtrack.
Transported to the snow-swept streets of 1961 New York, were introduced to Llewyn Davis (loosely based on Dave Van Ronk and exquisitely played by the doleful Oscar Isaac), a self-involved, misanthropic singer-songwriter still reeling after the loss of his partner. The fact Llewyn has a credit on his account with the local abortionist clearly indicates that things rarely go to plan for him.
And, of course, the Coens delight in raining down chaos on anyone foolish enough to try and instil order on their lives.
Guided by the lilting melancholy of composer T Bone Burnetts inspired reinterpretations of folk standards, the filmmakers employ a darkly comic touch in twisting the staples of the 60s film, leaving these conventions beguilingly distorted. To wit, a road trip with an opiate-addled, Mephistophelian jazz musician (John Goodman) offers disillusionment rather than self-discovery. Likewise, Llewyn pours his dark soul into a go-for-broke one-song audition only to be callously dismissed in the most heart-wrenching sequence the Coens have ever penned.
Frequently the orchestrator of his own misery, the recalcitrant troubadour emerges as both thoroughly unlikeable and yet eminently loveable. His actions (and inactions) occasionally leave you aghast but they ring as true as the notes so skilfully elicited from his guitar.
